$200m Hampton Project Stalled

January 26, 2010|By David Macaulay, dmacaulay@dailypress.com 247-7838

HAMPTON — Three years ago the $200 million Crossroads project was described as "the next piece in a perfect puzzle that our City Council and city staff have been putting together for a long time," by Billy Hobbs, president of the Coliseum Central Business Improvement District.

In 2010 the piece is still missing and there seems little prospect any time soon of the parking lots around Hampton Coliseum yielding the theater, hotel and offices once proposed.

While the development of the Peninsula Town Center just north of Mercury Boulevard has continued, notwithstanding the recession, the same can't be said of the project farther south.

Details were unveiled three years ago of the development which was to include a 2,000-seat theater, a hotel, offices, living areas and a parking garage on 19 acres of what is now a parking lot from the Hampton Coliseum to Pine Chapel Road. The development was to be between Interstate 64 and Coliseum Drive.

In May 2008 Vincent W. Falleroni of XL Development Group of Pittsburgh gave the city $5.7 million for the land west of the Coliseum and said he was persevering with the Crossroads development, so named because it is near the crossroads of Interstates 64 and 664.

The city paid the developer $5.9 million to get the land back last July.

Hampton Economic Development Director James Eason said the developer, now David Orr, also got the real estate taxes he paid returned, but the city came out ahead because it benefited from parking revenues.

Orr has been given two years to get the project on track, Eason said.

There have been few developments since and bond proceeds of $4.1 million originally earmarked for parking for the project are scheduled to go to other projects under a review of bond funded capital projects to be considered by council members next month.

Eason said the project has been put on hold because of the poor state of the credit market.

"Everything revolves around the credit markets," he said. "Nobody is financing a hotel these days."

But Eason said the plan remains a good one and the developer is in regular contact.

"We still have a relationship with the developer. He's still in touch and was here in December," Eason said.

Eason could not give a timetable for a project that as of May 2008 had been scheduled for a groundbreaking in January 2009.

Elizabeth McCoury, executive director of the Coliseum Central Business Improvement District board, said the board remains hopeful that Crossroads and the nearby H2O housing development, which has also stalled, will proceed.

"The board recognizes that the current economic climate has delayed some projects and we are very fortunate that the leasing of Peninsula Town Center is so strong.

"The Crossroads site and H2O are exceptional locations not only within the district but on the East Coast. We look forward to the development of these sites with the highest and best use as the market permits," she said.